WE137II: A Phantom Football Match, Roller Hockey and Artistic Roller Skating

SV Allstedt II 3:5 Haldenslebener SC
Saturday, 14th March 2009 - kick-off time 14.30
Friendly match
Result: 3:5 after 40 min. - Halftime 2:0
Goals: don’t know
Bookings: none
Sent-offs: none
Stadium: Eberhardt-Kannegießer-Stadion (cap. 400; 100 seated)
Attendance: 40 (10 away fans)
Match quality: 5.5/10 (O.K.)

SV Allstedt 11:1 RC de Lichtstad (Eindhoven)
Saturday, 14th March 2009 - kick-off time 15.30
2nd Bundesliga (2nd level)
Result: 11:1 after 50 min. - Halftime 6:0
Goals: 1:0 4th Hunger, 2:0 9th J. Schlanstedt, 3:0 14th Willi, 4:0 19th Willi, 5:0 21st Willi, 6:0 25th J. Schlanstedt, 6:1 26th van Buiten, 7:1 31st Hunger, 8:1 32nd J. Schlanstedt, 9:1 34th J. Schlanstedt, 10:1 39th Hunger, 11:1 50th U. Schlanstedt
Bookings: two yellow cards de Lichtstad
Sent-offs: none
Stadium: Eberhardt-Kannegießer-Stadion (cap. 400; 100 seated)
Attendance: 110 (no away fans)
Match quality: 6.5/10 (First half good, second one less good)

Half past ten in the morning, we took the train from Merseburg to Querfurt, saving a lot of money because of using the so-called “Hopper-Ticket.” Actually, it does not have to do with groundhopping, but sometimes it is helpful on groundhopping tours. The best about that ticket is, that you can ride up to 50km in one direction within your Bundesland - return included - for 6€ per Person. Merseburg - Querfurt - Merseburg costs one more than 9€, usually.

We bought something to eat in Querfurt and went on by bike. Via Farnstädt, Rothenschirmbach, Osterhausen and Bornstedt, we arrived at Holdenstedt. Actually we planned watching a football match there, but the teams were not on the ground at the fixed kick-off time (12:30), so we thought, the match must have been called off although the pitch was in a good condition. Looking up the result in the internet, we found the strange assertion at fussball.de that the match was allegedly played at Holdenstedt and Holdenstedt/ Beyernaumburg II won - allegedly - 12:2. Very strange, but once again an example of the bad organisation in that area.
After I took some photos of the church in Holdenstedt - also called Hodenstedt - we rode five kilometres to Beyernaumburg, a village with a nice church and a beautiful castle. The older, medieval part of the castle is in bad conditions, but the neo-gothic part is impressive.
Few kilometres on to Allstedt there is another castle (pictured above that line), but we already visited it when we watched SV Allstedt for the first time last year. That’s why we immediately entered the roller hockey and tennis stadium.

We expected much time for hanging around, but luckily there was a match before the Bundesliga match scheduled. SV Allstedt II played a friendly against a non-league team, Haldenslebener SC. SV Allstedt II is a mixed team, fife men and three women - mostly boys and girls, not grown-ups - are in the team. Nonetheless, the mixed team went in front with two goals within the first half (20 minutes each half). The first goal at all was scored by a young lady - the only one of the three female players who played at the same level of the male players. In the second half Allstedt even scored another time, but step by step Haldensleben scored a goal after another. After 32 minutes they equalised, after 35 they scored the 3:4 and in the last second - not just last minute but last second - they scored their fifth goal. The match was quite good in the first half but contained of many mistakes, and in the second half the mistakes were more disturbing. But all in all, that match was better than expected and you have to pay respect to the players. The best skilled one was the guy with the number 9 playing for Haldensleben.
The second match was faster, saw better technical skills and more goals, but you can expect such a performance: that is 2nd Bundesliga. Allstedt even played in the first level last year.
You may wonder about that, but the visiting team was not German but Dutch. There are some Dutch teams taking part in German competitions. One of them is RC de Lichtstad from Eindhoven. Unfortunately they couldn’t send all the players that day. The coaches did not come neither.
With a furious start, Allstedt cleared the match. After the first half (25 minutes) was over, they lead by six goals to none.
In the second half the match was weaker, partially even boring. Nonetheless we saw six further goals: five for Allstedt, one for Eindhoven.
The surroundings are not worth much words. The stadium is great of course, catering was O.K. but the supporters were just watching and not supporting.

During the break of the second match and after that match, we saw a show event of a kind of sport we did not watch before. It has almost died out, but Haldensleben has a team that competes in that sport: artistic roller skating. All in all the sports value was anything but great, but it was quite interesting to watch. The closest related kind of sports to artistic roller skating is figure skating.
The way back was partially really hard, because the street from Allstedt to Allstedt airport - a shut-down Soviet military airbase - is exhausting due to the steep hill upwards for 4.5 km. But then it is not a long and hard way to Querfurt anymore. From Querfurt we took the train back to Merseburg.

Statistics:
Ground No. 284 (not a new ground; this season: 56)
Sporting event No. 766-767 (the artistic roller skating did not count in that statistic due to lack of referees - this season: 136)
Kilometres that day: 130 (70 train, 60 bike)
Km this season: 18,380; i.e. 9,270 car/ 3,190 bike/ 2,960 plain/ 2,960 train
Number of weeks since the last week without any sporting event (Aug 1st-6th 2006): 137

For more photos see:
Castle Beyernaumburg etc. - http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x68/fchmksfkcb/090314a%20Beyernaumburg%20-%20Holdenstedt%20-%20Allstedt/
Roller hockey and skating - http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x68/fchmksfkcb/090314b%20Rollhockey%20und%20Rollkunstlauf%20in%20Allstedt/

WE111: 1st match on Saturday: A football ground on a former castle yard

SV Blau Weiß Bornstedt II 4:0 KSG Holdenstedt - Beyernaumburg II

Saturday, 13th September 2008 - kick-off time 12.30
1. Kreisklasse Mansfeld-Südharz III (11th level, 7th amateur division)
Result: 4:0 after 94 min. (45+3/45+1) - Halftime 2:0
Goals: 1-0 6th Zibell, 2-0 24th Ziervogel, 3-0 51st Tamaş, 4-0 61st Ziervogel
Bookings: None.
Sent-offs: None.
Ground: Sportplatz Bornstedt (cap. 1,100; 20 seated)
Attendance: 15 (no away fans)
Match quality: 5.0/10 (average)

Ground No. 247 (new ground; this season: 17)
Sporting event No. 658 (this season: 25)
Number of football matches since the last goalless draw: 75
Number of weeks since the last week without any sporting event (Aug 1st-6th 2006): 111

We took an early train from Merseburg to Halle, had breakfast at the train station in Halle - what should you do else when you have to wait 45 minutes for a train that does not even need 30 minutes to bring you to your destination? - and then took the second train to Erdeborn, a village at the edge of the Harz mountains. The only reason why we went off the train there was the limited validation of our ticket. You pay 6€ per person and you only have to ride certain routes of at the longest 2x50km. Merseburg - Halle - Erdeborn is about that length and furthermore not far away from our two destinations that day.
The first one was a 13km bike ride away. There were many slight downhill tracks, very well paved, so - with help of the wind from the back - we rode half of the way with 30-45km/h. That aforementioned first destination is a village of 900 inhabitants called Bornstedt. The main sight of Bornstedt is visible from a distance of several kilometres: the keep of the castle rises high above the wooded hill. To reach the castle you have to ride a dusty, stony, not paved road. If you turn to the left at the first crossing you will immediately run through the gate of the upper castle - that part of the castle that is quite well preserved. The keep isn’t opened regularly, nor is the museum, nor the restaurant. You will wonder that the castle gate is open - even day and night. However. There are remnants of two other keeps and several restored smaller buildings as well as defensive walls. Turn to the right and you will enter the lower castle. There is nothing to see but remnants of the ring walls. And what was built into the yard of the lower castle? Right, the football ground. Unfortunately, you can’t see the keep of the upper castle during summer due to lush vegetation and not a single medieval stone survived the building activities in the 18th century. Later on - about 1946 or so - the ground was built up there.
There were to matches scheduled that day, but we only watched the first one. Half past one the elderly man in red - I mean the referee - blew for kick-off. Blau-Weiß Bornstedt II played against KSG Holdenstedt - Beyernaumburg II - a match of the lowest division in the region of Mansfeld-Südharz. Although not sounding after an interesting match, it was one. After 7 minutes Bornstedt hammered the ball in the net. Not even ten minutes later, a player with the strange surname Ziervogel - I hope I understood the announcer correctly, Ziervogel means ‘pet bird’ in English - scored. Until the referee blew for halftime, there wasn’t another goal added to the scorecard, but nonetheless both teams played engaged and the match was worth watching.
After the break, Bornstedt added two more goals to their tally within 10 minutes. Another goal by the ‘pet bird’ and one by an Albanian (or Bosnian?) player.
The dialogue of the match was held when players from Ritterrode - BW Bornstedt against Ritterrode was the match after that Kreisklasse-match that we could watch for free - arrived. A really overweighed player of Holdenstedt/ Beyernaumburg made a correct line-out. Nonetheless one of the Ritterrode players shouted: ‘incorrect throw-in!’ The Holdenstedt player’s answer: ‘shut up!’ Ritterrode’s player reply: ‘Uh… that guy without a neck is talking to me…’ Holdenstedt player: ‘Your mum!’
In German: >> - Falscher Einwurf! -- Machn Kopp zu! - Uh… der Typ ohne Hals labert mich voll! -- Deine Mudda! <<

Photos of the castle:
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x68/fchmksfkcb/080913a%20Bornstedt%20-%20Die%20Schweinsburg%20Bornstedt/

Photos of the match: http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x68/fchmksfkcb/080913bBornstedt%20B%204-0%20Holdenstedt-Beyernaumburg%20B/